Problem Exporting from Illustrator

alisa

Posted 18 December 2008 - 02:41 PM

alisa

Newbie

Validated Member

4 posts

Israel

Hey to all,
I have big problem which i'm dealing with for a while. Hope to get some guidance here ...
We recently started exporting maps in a vector format rather then raster (pdf instead of tiff) from the Arc Map
The final product is a pdf or PS file created in the In Design or the Illustrator (we tried both CS2 and CS3) containing all the layers .
The file gets rather large and contains layers that are in different formats (mostly PSD, AI, pdf).
The problem starts when we try to create the final file for printing (both plotter and agfa).
We manage to create the PDF but we can't print it in any way.
We tried exporting the PDF file from both the In Design and the Illustrator without much luck.
Another problem that accured is that we were not able to save the AI file once we brought in the tiff file (the background of the map) because of memory problems.
I should mention that the computer has plenty of RAM space.
Thanks a lot in advance for any kind of help...
Alisa

Hey to all,I have big problem which i'm dealing with for a while. Hope to get some guidance here ... We recently started exporting maps in a vector format rather then raster (pdf instead of tiff) from the Arc MapThe final product is a pdf or PS file created in the In Design or the Illustrator (we tried both CS2 and CS3) containing all the layers .The file gets rather large and contains layers that are in different formats (mostly PSD, AI, pdf).The problem starts when we try to create the final file for printing (both plotter and agfa).We manage to create the PDF but we can't print it in any way.We tried exporting the PDF file from both the In Design and the Illustrator without much luck.Another problem that accured is that we were not able to save the AI file once we brought in the tiff file (the background of the map) because of memory problems.I should mention that the computer has plenty of RAM space.Thanks a lot in advance for any kind of help... Alisa

alisa

Posted 19 December 2008 - 09:30 AM

alisa

Newbie

Validated Member

4 posts

Israel

thanks a lot
i will try to change some stuff around and tell you later how it went.
i do think it's a memory problem but did not know how to deal with it ... i really hope it would help.
anyhow i would be glad to hear from people that dealt with this problem.

Matthew Hampton

Posted 30 December 2008 - 04:02 PM

Thank you a loti will definitely try some of the things suggested , i do think its a memory problem.i still would like to hear of someone had similar problems.

I have had problems like this before and I think it might be caused by a variety of different things, but ultimately relating to memory (especially when working with large-format digital maps that have quite a bit of Postscript3 (transparency, drop shadows, gaussian-blurs) and a high-resolution raster basemap. I can think of a few scenarios using the filetypes and software you mentioned that quickly can bring our current technology to its knees.

oombaca

Posted 07 September 2010 - 02:51 PM

While not following the exact same export processes I have experience moving from Arc to AI to PDF and out for print and have run into problems like yours quite often.

The transparency point mentioned above is a good one.

WRT saving large AI files. There are many ways to reduce the size, I'll go through what I do in order from easiest solution to more time involving.

My first check is to look for redundant layers. There's often a doubling of the background layer, sometimes others, this usually doesn't do the trick but does clean-up the file which is always a good thing.

Next I usually do a select all with all layers unlocked. There can sometimes be a masked outlying object which quadruples the area AI thinks it's saving but has no impact on your map, delete and try again.

Third, Arc often uses clipping masks on vector layers (rather than clipping the data itself) adding a lot extra data around the outside. This generally happens with hydrology and route data. Delete the data outside the frame, but be careful! Make sure deleting the vertexes outside the frame doesn't alter your polygons inside it! This usually does the trick.

If it doesn't you can always use the simplify tool which reduces the number of vertices on an edge. You'll want to play with a sample of your data until you find parameters that reduce the number of vertices without distorting the shapes.

If none of these do the trick I've found acrobat professional (CS3) to be better able to save large files. Typically I'd open the raster and AI file in it and place the AI data on top of the raster, then save. This file can then be opened in AI or Photoshop.

WRT to exporting data for print:If exporting is still a problem after the above tricks I try one of 2 things:I might see if cheating a little on the export DPI will get me where I want to go without hurting the image. This really depends on the situation but generally the difference between 147 DPI and 150 or 297 and 300 is not noticeable to the naked eye but can mean the difference in exporting a large file.If this is cheating too much or doesn't work, I try opening it Acrobat Pro. This can be time consuming but in my experience it exports files that AI cannot.

Posted 30 September 2010 - 01:20 AM

In addition to what's been said above I find that using text haloes or complex symbology in ArcMap can blow up your AI export file size, because the text haloes translate to complex polygons and a fairly simple-looking Arc symbol suddenly consists of three or more pieces. So you might want to export from Arc in a rather "Raw" state and do the finishing touches in AI.

It's usually well worth looking into the cutting masks and hidden data outside your map area that oombaca mentioned. There can be a lot of useless data hidden there. Finally, rearranging the layers ArcMap exports and regrouping things in AI may not change the file size by much but at least you can achieve more order in your map, possibly simplifying the further workflow.